bore holes now drying up

[Bruxinha]

At the risk of being labelled extremely boring and sad, I also found out today PM that once you have your borehole licence, you have to renew it every 5 years.

Perhaps it is no wonder that a friend of mine said to me once "how come you know all this interesting information?" (or was the word she actually used "rubbish")! See what the Algarve can do to you if you hang around too long

[Guest]

PM....Obviously you have never ran a business there.(I mean a real one with a number of staff) ...anyway I'll take your advise ...my moans have really been borne out of the frustrations I had when I lived there.....such a beautiful place I had hoped I could put something into their economy....not just my pocket...(I really dont need it) ....but yes I guess I have ranted a bit too much..usually after I've had a few G & T's too much and start browsing the web.at midnight...,.I always go back to the old Carvoiero web site..so I must I guess have a little love left for the place........I promise I'll give it a rest.......

[OAP ECO WARRIOR]

[quote="Bruxinha"]Yes pm you definately need a licence to put in a borehole...legally that is of course :

4 neighbours of ours, 1 English, 1 German and 2 Portuguese, 3 of them with illegale buildings, 2 with illegale boreholes and 2 thanks to all our neighbours we managed to get stopped within the last 2 months.

However, how do we stop 2 x 18 hole Golf courses and a multitude of horrific spoiling of countryside via complex building inclusive of hotel, club house, sports centre with spa etc. Which is planned from the road out of Silves to Alcantarilha.

So yes I do mind if rumour is true and we are going to be charged for our water from our borehole which we are obliged to renew the licence to every 5yrs. Pay the electricity for the pumping up of the water, maintenance of the equipment and at somepoint no doubt replacement .
Furthermore, what about all the illegale boreholes? I suppose like so many other matters in the Algarve it will be those of us who pay our way and by doing so end up paying for the rest who dont and no doubt would call the rest of us stupid for doing so.
Ah well if nothing else "food for thought".Maybe I could become the oldest Eco Warrior, but I do not believe that I would like to go down a hole to prove my point, although I could perhaps find away of blocking 36 small holes..anyone got any ideas? For those who enjoy golf inclusive of my husband, come on everyone enough is enough your spoilt for choice already in the Algarve. Another Silves resident who cares about this world of ours and what some for nothing more than greed are doing to it.

[Guest]

Yes..But you see.......you are a foreigner and you care..Show me one in ten Portuguese who care. unless there is something in it for them (Money)......so you'r just waisting your time...sorry---but you will be banging your head against the wall until the cows come home........if they are still alive......I support you.....why o why do the Portuguese not care.....

[optimistic]

Maybe the Portuguese will start caring when thay can afford to retire to the sun, play golf at Quinta d lago etc, afford 3 bd villas with pools satellite etc.
Until they do they will understandbly want to make us much money from those who Do.

[Guest]

please let us dispel the myth that the portuguese are some poor people..the News said that the biggest market for bmw and mercedes outside munich is in lisbon..the biggest sales of ferrairis is in porto...there is enough houses in portugal for a population of 30 million but only 10 million live here.

now the properties owned for these extra 20 milliion are not owned all by foreigners of that i can assure you.many portugiuese have two or three homes..one "poor farmer" nearby with his 12 year old car has 7 apartments, and a villa, and a rest, and two farms.

one portuguese couple who have just a pick up just sold a plot of land for apartments in lagoa..they got a million euros,,,and oh yes they have two homes and two farms

if this is poverty then what are riches i wonder????

[ellie@lincs]

Yes pm you definately need a licence to put in a borehole...legally that is of course :

4 neighbours of ours, 1 English, 1 German and 2 Portuguese, 3 of them with illegale buildings, 2 with illegale boreholes and 2 thanks to all our neighbours we managed to get stopped within the last 2 months.

However, how do we stop 2 x 18 hole Golf courses and a multitude of horrific spoiling of countryside via complex building inclusive of hotel, club house, sports centre with spa etc. Which is planned from the road out of Silves to Alcantarilha.

So yes I do mind if rumour is true and we are going to be charged for our water from our borehole which we are obliged to renew the licence to every 5yrs. Pay the electricity for the pumping up of the water, maintenance of the equipment and at somepoint no doubt replacement .
Furthermore, what about all the illegale boreholes? I suppose like so many other matters in the Algarve it will be those of us who pay our way and by doing so end up paying for the rest who dont and no doubt would call the rest of us stupid for doing so.
Ah well if nothing else "food for thought".Maybe I could become the oldest Eco Warrior, but I do not believe that I would like to go down a hole to prove my point, although I could perhaps find away of blocking 36 small holes..anyone got any ideas? For those who enjoy golf inclusive of my husband, come on everyone enough is enough your spoilt for choice already in the Algarve. Another Silves resident who cares about this world of ours and what some for nothing more than greed are doing to it.

Oh I do applaud you... an OAP eco warrior? all I can say is..if we all had your tenacity and spirit ..then maybe something might be done to put a stop to all the madness...overdevelopement et al...
I wasn't aware that those '2' golf courses were being built in that region between Silves and Alcantarilha?...
used to love that drive when living there...sigh..
If it goes on like that..will we 'recognise' any countryside at all in the near future?

[Guest]

Dear Optimistic......you live in a very nice dream world..The many very rich macho .Portuguese.....dont give a dam about their own country...prevail everywhere.......Look...most northern Europeans do care about the environment....I have tried to discuss this with dozens of Portuguese....100% tell me they have no interest.very Sad ....

[optimistic]

So if its NOT the " eco friendly " northern europeans who are " buying " up the algarve and southern spain,, encouraging mass development, over use of limited water rescources etc THEN WHO IS IT ???.

The Portuguese would not be ecouraging development if there was not a market.

Everyone of us who moves from the North to the sunny south contibutes to the problems.

If you think otherwise then you really are NAIVE !!!

[Bruxinha]

I think I agree with all of you this morning....

One thing we might have forgotten though, is that whilst there are rich Portuguese, poor Portuguese and rich Northern Europeans...there are also some "poorer" Northern Europeans here. Some are here through choice but some are not. So it is also a myth that all Northern Europeans that are here are 5 bedroom villa with pool owning wealth magnets.

On Thursday I found a flyer in the post box. It was from a "Northern European" run real estate agent. The flyer was in Portuguese and stated that they wanted villas, plots, ruins etc for FOREIGNERS. This didn't sit very comfortably with me. I read between the lines. I personally am sick and tired of people here trying to stitch me up, cheat and lie to me just because I happen to have been born in Northern Europe and them assuming that I, therefore, must have pot loads of money, which they feel justified in relieving me of...if only

Rant over...

[cowboy]

You know Bruxinha, I have the same problem being from the usa....
we're all rich....

Anyhow, if you want to see the future of the Algarve, take a look at the Costa del Sol and add a few years (assuming the Algarve hasn't dried up, burned up and blown away by then).

[Guest]

Exactly.....We Northern Europeans are all supposed to be rich ..( I live here on my OAP...and thats it ) ....and yes I too have been stitched up so many times....silly me I guess...
...Do the Portuguese care about their environment.... Just ask yourself...who lights all the fires and burns the countryside ......and now who spend their weekends replanting....in their own free time...for free.....(Maybe nobody knows about this programme......many of us have spent hundreds of hours replanting in and around Monchique) .....we try hard but it really is a battle when people burn their own land for financial gain / Fun / curiousity ? we dont know why really....

[optimistic]

The reason why is simple, because there will always be people like us from the UK, Ireland, Holland etc willing to buy, hoping that there will not be anymore development in the immediate area( somewhere else isn,t their problem ).

If you want to stop development then encourage all your fellow countrymen to go elsewhere ( and change/ruin someone elses country ).

How to change Portugal, learn the language, become an official resident, pay taxes, get involved in local affairs and politics.

It will take years but it is pobably the only way !!

[Guest]

well optimistic ..i take it you have not lived here....there are many returning portuguese emigres who have come back from s africa, canada uk whereever..when they come here having seen how things are done in other places they try and get things moving here...but soon they are put in the place..one s african portuguese was threatened that if he didnt stop making trouble they (ie the powers in the camaras) would make trouble for him

result ..he shut up

[Bruxinha]

What a happy bunch we are today eh?

Here's a thought. What happens when Southern Europe becomes too hot and there is no water due to global warming and so everyone wants/has to move to Northern Europe? Will we be having a discussion about the overdevelopment on the fiords of Norway? Probably....